Gateway Community and Technical College last week released the details of the master plan for its urban campus in downtown Covington. The $81.5 million plan is expected to transform the region’s urban core into a vibrant college community with opportunities for economic development as well as educational improvement.

Nine properties will be renovated and will form the nucleus of the new campus, located in a six-block area in Covington, from Fourth to Seventh streets and from Greenup Street to Madison Avenue. The college has already purchased or is finalizing deals to purchase the properties. Gateway will continue to occupy the former Two Rivers school building at 525 Scott Blvd. It acquired the property in 2010.

Gateway first announced its intent to create a campus in the urban core in June 2007. The goal was to replace its aging campus on Amsterdam Road with new facilities that would provide easier access to urban residents. The Kentucky General Assembly granted Gateway the authority to sell the Amsterdam Road campus and use the proceeds from the sale to develop the downtown campus. The college will also sell the adjacent Park Hills Elementary School, a property it acquired in 2003.

The Gateway Foundation has committed $5 million, with $12 million coming from the college and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. Gateway will seek the remainder of the funding from the general assembly in 2014.

The new campus will provide nearly 300,000 square feet of space for instruction, student services and related academic purposes. It will serve 2,500 new urban students per year by 2014 and 5,000 new students by 2020.

”We are building a complete campus that will meet the unique needs in the urban core,” Gateway president & CEO Ed Hughes said. “The urban campus not only will change the lives of the students who find new hope within its streets and walls, it will create as yet unimagined economic development potential for the river cities and the whole region.”